May 7, 2002--(Schaumburg,
Illinois) In a study published in the May 8, 2002 Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA), researchers found that infants breastfed
for seven to nine months had higher IQs as adults than those breastfed for less than
seven months.

Using two types of intelligence
tests, researchers compared IQ scores for young adults who had been
breastfed for various lengths of time. While the study showed an increase
in intelligence at all duration levels of breastfeeding, participants
who had been breastfed for seven to nine months showed the largest increase
of IQ points at 6, compared to those breastfed for one month or less.

Using a two-pronged approach
to evaluate more than 3,000 young adults in Copenhagen, Denmark, researchers
took into account other factors that might contribute to the IQ increase
such as parental social status and education; single mother status;
mother's height, age and weight gain during pregnancy, and cigarette
consumption during the third trimester as well as number of pregnancies;
estimated gestational age; birth weight; birth length; and indexes of
pregnancy and delivery complications. The scientists concluded that
duration of breastfeeding may have long-term positive effects on cognitive
and intellectual development.

While previous studies have
demonstrated a positive relationship between breastfeeding and psychomotor
and mental development in children, most of them stressed the significant
difference between those infants who had been breastfed versus those
who were fed artificial baby milk. This study is unique in that it demonstrates
the positive, life-long effects of breastfeeding by testing young adults
in relationship to the duration of their breastfeeding experience as
infants and because it is the first to track IQ into maturity. Scientists
believe that the nutrients in human milk, maternal behavior, and factors
associated with the choice of feeding method all play a part in the
positive correlation between duration of breastfeeding and increased
IQ.

Previous research has well
documented additional long-term positive effects of breastfeeding both
for the baby and the mother. For the infant, long-term effects of breastfeeding
include reduced risk of celiac disease, diabetes, obesity, some childhood
cancers, Crohn's disease, urinary tract infections, atopic disease,
and reduced endometriosis in women in later life. For the breastfeeding
mother, there is reduced risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis.

For additional information
about breastfeeding or for a selected annotated bibliography, "Born
to Learn," about the relationship of breastfeeding to cognitive
development, visit La Leche League International's Center for Breastfeeding
Information on the La Leche League International website at www.lalecheleague.org/cbi/bibborn.html.

La Leche League International,
the world's foremost authority on breastfeeding, is a nonprofit organization
providing breastfeeding information, encouragement, and mother-to-mother
support to more than 300,000 women, each month, in 63 countries around
the world.